Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One PC Review

Name: Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One PC Review
Brand: Lenovo

by Daniel A. Begun — Thursday, June 25, 2009, 09:30 AM EDT

Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One Desktop PC Review

Synopsis: The Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 is an all-in-one desktop with plenty of features and bells-and-whistles to keep all but the most jaded of users happy. Perhaps taking a page out of Apple's book, Lenovo put a lot of effort into the look and feel of the A600, with its black-colored chassis, borderless 21.5-inch 1920x1080 TFT display, curved back, and svelte form factor--measuring only 1-inch thick at its thinnest point. The A600 Series comes in a variety of configurations, which range in price from $679 to $1,399.

The unit we looked at--the A600-30114BU--is at the top of the A600's food chain and comes with an impressive specification list that includes a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 1TB hard drive, and a Blu-ray drive. Its ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 won't win any 3D gaming benchmark awards, but it is speedy enough to permit the system to hold its own with recently-released games as long as you're willing to drop down to lower resolutions and forgo some advanced image quality settings. An integrated HD TV tuner and excellent HD video playback abilities help make the A600 a strong entertainment machine. The A600 should make an excellent general-purpose or family PC, as long as you are willing to pay a premium for the all-in-one form factor--which costs roughly $200 more than similarly-configured "traditional" desktop designs.

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Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-In-One Desktop PC

Specifications and Features

2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450
4GB PC3-8500 1066MHz DDR3
Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset
21.5-inch, glossy, WUXGA TFT, with a native resolution of 1920x1080 (16:9 aspect ratio, CCFL backlight)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
1TB 7200prm 3.5-inch SATA/3.0Gbps hard drive
Combo Blu-ray player / DVD+/-RW drive
Gigabit Ethernet
802.11a/b/g/n wireless
2.1-channel speaker system (two 3-watt speakers and an 8-watt subwoofer)
Microphone array
Integrated 2.0-megapixel webcam
Built-in 6-in-1 multi-card reader
Integrated TV tuner
Wireless (2.4GHz RF) keyboard and mouse (800/1600-dpi)
Wireless (Bluetooth) 4-in-1 remote control
Bluetooth
150-watt A/C adapter
Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
18.2x20.47x1.06 to 2.36-inches (HWD)
27.7-pounds
One-year parts and labor warranty with 24x7 toll-free phone support

All-in-one desktop design
Sleek exterior
Blu-ray drive
HD TV tuner
Wireless keyboard and mouse
4-In-1 Bluetooth remote control (including motion game-controller functionality)
6-In-1 card reader

Relatively expensive compared to "traditional" desktops
Not upgradable
Fingers can get caught underneath bezel
Poor placement of power button can result in accidentally sending system into standby mode
Ho-Hum 3D graphics